


Came Back From the Edge

by starbear (panda_hiiro)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mentions of character death (but no one dies), Missing Scene, Post S6E1, no explicit romantic content though, you can read this as gen or romantic shance whatever floats your boat!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 03:12:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14991515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panda_hiiro/pseuds/starbear
Summary: "Lance was okay.He kept telling himself that, and by the time they made it back to the Castle of Lions, he’d largely convinced himself it was true.But the truth was, Lance died."Set right after the events of S6E1. Lance is okay when he comes back; Shiro is, too.





	Came Back From the Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this a 'missing scene' from the end of Omega Shield. I just needed a little more resolution in regards to what happened to Lance and Shiro in that episode, so here it is!

Lance was okay.

He kept telling himself that, and by the time they made it back to the Castle of Lions, he’d largely convinced himself it was true. Maybe it was because he was still riding the high from the miracle Allura performed - the residual warmth of her energy buzzed just beneath his skin, a jittery sort of sensation that left his heart racing a little faster than was entirely comfortable. How much of that purely had to do with magic, he wasn’t completely sure, but it reminded him of just how close he’d come to tiptoeing right over the edge. Part of him thought he should be more upset about it, but then again, no one else seemed to be.

But the truth was, Lance died.

In a way, he was getting used to it. This wasn’t the first close shave he’d had: the explosion during Sendak’s attack on the castle, their desperate battle against Zarkon, the ship graveyard at Oriande. That last memory lingered fresh in his mind - the stifling stillness of the air promising their slow deaths, the crushing weight of the inevitable pressing down on him in the dark. He’d sat there next to Shiro, both of them wordless and waiting, just close enough that the tips of their fingers were touching. Neither of them said anything about that small contact; what it might have meant to Shiro, Lance couldn’t even begin to guess. What it meant to him was that, at least, if he was going to die, he wasn’t going to die alone.

And now, again, he was back from the dead - more literally this time, since he was fairly certain his heart actually stopped beating in the few moments it took Allura to get to him. He wanted to think that meant something, her lack of hesitation, but he knew she’d have done the same for any of them, could tell it even when she stopped him outside the hangar and asked,

“Are you okay?”

And he was.

He said as much, and she smiled at him before disappearing to tell Lotor about their mission. In her wake Pidge and Hunk found him, bringing with them a wave of bright, good-natured joking that eased the tension out of the air.

“Don’t let all of this go to your head, lover boy,” Pidge said, grinning as she elbowed him in the ribs. “Though I gotta say, getting yourself killed to impress the princess? Not a solid plan.”

“I wasn’t,” Lance protested.

“Too bad Keith wasn’t here to cradle you in his arms this time,” Hunk said, wrapping his arms around himself and making an entirely inappropriate kissing face.

“Uh, yeah, I still don’t believe that happened.”

“Totally did. So did Shiro,” Pidge said. “Is that your goal? Do you want me and Hunk to gently hold you, too?”

“You guys suck,” Lance said. “Speaking of, though, where is Shiro? Is he okay?”

“Oh. I don’t know.” A shadow crossed Pidge’s face; she stared down at her helmet, rotating it in her hands. “I’m not really sure what happened back there, it’s like he just spaced out all of a sudden. He said it was a headache...I guess he went to lie down for a while.”

A little knot of worry twisted itself in Lance’s chest. Headaches - he knew Shiro had been plagued with them since his second escape from the Galra, had known about it even before Shiro had come to him with that quiet admission in the dark outside Oriande. After all, Shiro, too, had been right to the edge - had plunged right over it, in fact, and clawed his way back. Lance couldn’t even begin to understand the depths of what that had done to him; a headache was likely the least of Shiro’s worries.

“I’ll see if I can’t hunt him down and check on him,” Lance said.

“Thanks.” Pidge breathed a sigh, a visible look of relief crossing her face. “And, hey. Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“Stop doing stupid stuff.”

Lance stuck his tongue out at her as he left the hangar. He knew what she meant, just as he understood the quiet but attentive look on Hunk’s face - they had a code, the three of them, unspoken but sacred. There were things they didn’t say, and Lance was thankful for that - it made things easier not to put it into words, let them all three pretend that they weren’t still just kids putting their lives on the line in a war bigger than any of them could truly imagine.

Better not to talk about it.

He was okay.

The problem was, more and more often, Lance found himself alone with his thoughts, and his mind was not nearly as discerning as his friends when it came to topics he’d like to avoid. He craved the noise of a party, the distraction of conversation, the excitement of adventure, anything to stem the jumble of noise in the back of his head. There was a certain irony at being stationed at Galra central command, nothing less than the center of the universe, and still, somehow, being alone.

"Man, what is with me today?" He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, rounding the corner into the lounge. “I’m one lyric away from turning into a walking emo playlist. Ugh.”  

"Lance?"

He jumped at the sound of his name, then looked up to see Shiro standing there in the middle of the lounge with a puzzled look on his face. Shiro had changed out of his armor, but he still carried an air of exhaustion around him: a rigid tension set in his shoulders, a weary line furrowed between his brows. Well, Lance had said he was going to look for Shiro - he just hadn’t thought he’d run into him unexpectedly. He wasn’t sure yet whether that was a lucky thing or not.

"What's wrong? I overheard you just now.” Okay, so, not a lucky thing. A certain hesitance hovered in Shiro’s approach towards him, a purposeful distance he maintained between them. “Are you okay?”

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just talking to myself." Lance sighed, and shrugged. "It's been a weird day, you know?"

"That's putting it mildly,” Shiro said.

“No joke. What are you doing here, though?” Lance asked, “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Shiro rubbed a hand absently at the back of his neck. "Look. Uh. About what happened today. I heard about what you did for Allura. That was really brave, you know."

"Um. Thanks." Lance stood a little straighter, and blinked. It wasn’t like Shiro to compliment him. "I mean, I dunno if I'd really call it that. I wasn’t really thinking when I did it."

"You saved her. We all owe you, big time.” Shiro paused, then added, "That was a close one. We could've lost you, Lance."

"It's not a big deal, Shiro. Everything worked out fine. I’m okay."

"It's _not_ okay," Shiro said, raising his voice abruptly. "It isn't okay. You could have...you almost...you _died_ , Lance. And that was on me."

"Woah, woah, Shiro, no," Lance said. "Hey, that wasn't your fault, dude. Seriously. It was just an accident." Shiro said nothing, just stared, pointedly, at the ground, his hands curled into fists at his sides. The sight made Lance's heart seize up. "Hey, c'mere. Let's sit down for a little bit, okay?"

Shiro obliged wordlessly as Lance led him to the couch; none of the tension left his body even as he sat, still, like a piece of machinery out of motion.

"It was your head again, right?" Lance spoke slowly, carefully. "You mentioned it before. Back on Oriande. I mean, even before that, too, I knew you had headaches and stuff. Why didn't you say something?"

"What good would it have done? We needed Voltron today," Shiro said. "I can't just take a break."

"Sure you can. I mean, I'm not saying you can run off to Vacation Planet or anything," Lance said, "But you've been working like crazy. Yeah, we've got our work cut out for us in Voltron, but when we're not in our Lions? Kick back, man. Drink some space juice and watch some intergalactic cable or something." Shiro said nothing; Lance continued, "Look. Okay. You messed up today. But you know what? Someone really awesome once said, 'we can't just focus on what went wrong. We've got to figure out how to make it right.'"

Shiro looked up at him, a tired smile playing on his lips.

"That sounds familiar."

"It ought to. You said it," Lance said, elbowing him gently. "I thought it was good advice."

"Thanks, Lance. Maybe you're right. A break wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"How about I take you to Space Mall? We can check out the Vrepit Spa, I've been dying to go."

"Uh...I think I'll pass." A playful tone crept into Shiro’s voice. “Besides, ‘dying?’ Haven’t you had enough of that?”

“Ha. Funny.” Lance pouted, but the expression quickly gentled into a smile. "Well, whatever you want to do, it's up to you. Just remember I'm here for you, okay? I mean, we all are. You don't have to get through any of this on your own."

"Thank you, Lance. That really means a lot to me." A beat of hesitation; it was hard to reconcile the flush that crept across Shiro's cheeks and the way he averted his eyes, like he was nervous or something. Shiro. Shiro didn’t get nervous. Did he? "Could I ask a favor?"

"Sure, dude. Shoot."

Shiro paused, as if second guessing himself, then suddenly threw his arms around Lance, pulling him into a tight, crushing hug. The gesture was so sudden, so unexpected that for a moment Lance forgot how to breathe.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Shiro said, his voice a small, tightly-wound whisper.

Something about that pulled Lance down from the high he’d ridden since Allura brought him back, like the weight of gravity tugging him back to solid ground, abrupt and without warning. Weak-kneed, heart racing faster than he could keep up with, he was glad for the solid, unwavering strength of Shiro’s embrace in the face of the reeling panic overtaking him. For the first time he wondered - what if he wasn’t okay?

He left the question unasked, and instead said, with an unmistakable waver in his voice,

“Yeah. Me too.”


End file.
